Goals with Guidelines (not resolutions, right?)

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has problems with following rules, especially self-imposed rules. For me, resolutions have always faded into the background of everyday life, usually much quicker than I’d like to admit. Still, I find it useful to go through the areas in my life that seem like they could use a little nudge in a positive direction.

This year I’m setting a couple of goals that have a some specific guidelines that are just that, guidelines.

A couple are pretty necessary and seem to be pretty standard across the resolution-setting population. For instance, I’d like to lose 10 pounds (best way for me to accomplish this would be to just eat less sugar and fewer carbs… Mayo Clinic diet anyone?). I’d also like to have a healthier body and the best way to do that (knowing my level of motivation) is sit-ups and push-ups every night, yoga twice a week and some cardio thrown in for good measure (obviously, I’m already a little fuzzy on the specifics, and believe it or not, I’m already in make-up mode with all the sitting on my ass that I did yesterday).

Also high on the priority list is a resolution that has repeated itself several times, but the year always come to an end without accomplishment. It seems especially more poignant given our experiences these last couple of years – get those documents in order (you know the ones I’m talking about, the ones that all adults should have created, signed and filed away).

A couple of my goals are not as necessary, but it would sure be nice to make some headway on. My mountain of spinning fiber has not shrunken any bit. Virginia suggested spinning 15 minutes a day. Seems doable, but, again, I’m in make-up mode. It looks like I’ll be spinning 30 minutes today. By the way, that beautiful Tibetan Spindle (a gift from my friend Barb of Wild Geese Fibres) is beautiful Purple Heart wood made by Edward Tabachek. Not pictured are the beautiful fibers that came with the gift, a luxury sampler from Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts.

The mountain of stash, this last year, grew into two mountains as I busied myself with making a whole host of needle felted friends. So, along with spinning everyday, I’ll most likely need to needle felt a little bit everyday.

And, for kicks, I’d like to take a photo/snapshot every day. A snippet of life, with the challenge of finding something interesting in the mundane (or not), or capturing a glimpse of everyday beauty, or just figuring out how to deal with the lack of good light during the winter days when my daylight hours are spent in a fluorescent-lit office. I may not post all the photos that I take, but I do have a set on Flickr that will keep them organized.

So, my friend, good luck to you in your own quest to meet your goals for the new year.

Good goals, Dan. I don’t like to make resolutions – I usually break them – but goals instead and hopefully kept. I am a member of the Silver Sneakers at the “Y” and want to make good use of it this year.

You might find you’ll get better spin with you Tibetan if you rest it in a ceramic or glass bowl — maybe a teacup? — rather than the little wooden bowl. Sometimes the surface will affect the speed and duration of the spin. Hope you and V are doing well.

Thanks, Ted. I’ve started to practice twirling the spindle in the cup/base that came with it. It seems to be working pretty well. The base is fairly heavy and there’s a good divet in the bottom of the cup. Right now my problem is trying to get the motion of twirling, drafting, etc… with both of my hands doing very different things at the same time. I’m afraid I’ve gotten too used to spinning with a wheel.

One of the things that I’ve learned about (myself and) goals is that every day has to be a new day, a fresh start. If I didn’t do XYZ yesterday, well, that’s OK, I’ll do it today (instead of doing XYZ twice or twice as long). You mentioned several times about already being in “make-up mode” for some goals, but I caution you not to get into that mentality – it can be demoralizing to think “I am SO behind” on a recurrent basis. Flylady (uh huh) always says something like “You’re not behind, I don’t want you to catch up, just jump in where you are…” I’m not quoting that quite right, but that’s the gist. I don’t mean to sound preachy, hope you are not offended.